Indigenous Voice adviser Tom Calma: keep Australia Day date, but with new focus
Aboriginal leader Tom Calma says the date of Australia Day should not be changed but instead be repurposed to take more stock of Indigenous history and culture.
Aboriginal leader Tom Calma says the date of Australia Day should not be changed but instead be repurposed to take more stock of Indigenous history and culture.
Professor Calma, co-chair of the advisory panel that designed a proposed Indigenous voice to government, said the “26th of January is fine but let’s look at what we are celebrating”.
“There are plenty of other things with a higher level of priority than changing the date, it is about changing the purpose,” he told The Australian.
“As it is currently framed, it is all about the settlement of Sydney Cove. Whereas the same date could be used to celebrate other things about Australia, with all the successes, all the voluntary work we do, and make it something everybody can relate to.
“So you are just repurposing the same date and reframing it. That then enables everybody that attends citizenship ceremonies to feel some pride in the country they are coming to.”
Professor Calma’s comments are in line with other prominent Indigenous Australians – including Marcia Langton, Megan Davis and Jacinta Price – who this week have declared there was no urgency in changing the date of the national day. Indigenous Covid-19 vaccination rates and a voice to parliament were among issues deemed more important.
A Roy Morgan poll released on Tuesday showed 65 per cent of respondents supported Australia Day remaining on January 26, up 6 per cent from last year.
But results are reversed for people under 25, with 64 per cent saying January 26 should be renamed “invasion day”.
More than three-quarters of Coalition voters and two-thirds of Labor voters support the national day remaining January 26. A majority of Greens voters think it should be known as “invasion day”.
Professor Calma, who was awarded an Order if Australia in 2012 and the ACT’s Australian of the Year in 2013, said there was no mood from the federal government or opposition to move Australia Day from January 26.
“You are much more likely to retain the date and change the purpose of the celebration,” he said. “We should be using this date as a time to get better informed about our prehistory. As people become more informed they also change their attitudes.
“We have seen this increasing over the last decade or so from the apology to people now having a different attitude when they become more informed about our history.
“They have a different attitude to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and recognising we should have a greater say over our own affairs, that our history should be taught more and our cultures respected more.”
On Tuesday, the federal government revealed it had bought the rights to the Aboriginal flag design from artist Harold Thomas in a deal worth about $20m.
However, in a threatening statement, Carroll & Richardson Flagworld managing director Wayne Gregory said the company was not a part of the deal and would remain the exclusive manufacturer of Aboriginal flags, banners and bunting.
“We will continue to defend our licence and the copyright against fraudulent manufacture and production,” he said.
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